What if the tools for sustainable space exploration could be found in cellular life on Earth? A NASA astrobiologist explains
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Prospects for Intelligent Life in the Universe
Geoff Marcy (UC Berkeley)KITPFeb 28, 2015’Prospects for Intelligent Life in the Universe’ lecture given by Geoff Marcy at the KITP Teachers’ Conference: Worl…
Reprogramming myeloid crosstalk overcomes immune resistance in colorectal cancer
Immunotherapy resistance remains a significant clinical challenge in the treatment of colorectal cancer. A recent study by Mount Sinai researchers, published in Cell Reports Medicine, reveals that overcoming this resistance requires more than just activating cancer-fighting T cells; it depends on restoring crucial communication between T cells and myeloid cells, specifically macrophages. Using advanced preclinical models and single-cell analyses, the research team identified exhausted T cells and immunosuppressive macrophages as key drivers of treatment failure. To counter this, they tested a novel combination therapy that targets multiple immune checkpoint proteins (PD-1, CTLA-4, and LAG3) alongside TREM2, a marker found on suppressive macrophages. By successfully reprogramming the tumor microenvironment to simultaneously reinvigorate T cells and neutralize suppressive macrophages, this combination strategy achieved up to 100% tumor clearance in mismatch repair-deficient cancer models and over 70% clearance in typically resistant mismatch repair-proficient models. Furthermore, the approach established long-lasting immune memory against cancer recurrence, highlighting the profound clinical potential of rationally designed combination immunotherapies that address both T cell dysfunction and the suppressive tumor environment.
Mestrallet et al. show that T cell-myeloid interactions determine response to PD-1 blockade in colorectal cancer. Targeting TREM2 macrophages together with LAG3, CTLA4, and PD-1 reprograms the tumor microenvironment and drives antitumor immunity, achieving up to 100% tumor clearance in mismatch repair-deficient and 70% in mismatch repair-proficient models.
The Multiverse is real. Just not in the way you think it is. | Sean Carroll
Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_… What do physicists actually mean when they talk about the Multiverse? Sean Carroll explains.
Up next, Michio Kaku: The Multiverse Has 11 Dimensions ► • Michio Kaku: The Multiverse Has 11 Dimensi…
The Multiverse is having a moment. From “Rick and Morty” to Marvel movies, the idea that our Universe is just one of many has inspired countless storylines in recent popular culture.
Why is the Multiverse so compelling? To theoretical physicist and philosopher Sean Carroll, one reason is that we’re drawn to wondering how things might have turned out differently. What if you had chosen a different career path? Married someone else? Moved to a different city?
Of course, there’s obviously no guarantee that you’re living out those alternate timelines in a different universe. But there are real scientific reasons to think that the Multiverse exists. And as Carroll explains, that possibility comes with some fascinating philosophical implications.
Andrej Karpathy: From Vibe Coding to Agentic Engineering
What’s changed in the year since he coined “vibe coding and explains why he’s never felt more behind as a programmer, why agentic engineering is the more serious discipline taking shape on top of vibe coding, and why we should think of LLMs not as animals but as ghosts: jagged, statistical, summoned entities that require a new kind of taste and judgment to direct. He also touches on Software 3.0, the limits of verifiability, and why you can outsource your thinking but never your understanding.
Nanoparticles overcome drug-resistant cancer via sequential drug release and photothermal therapy
Cancer cells frequently develop the ability to expel anticancer drugs before they can work—a phenomenon called multidrug resistance (MDR)—which is one of the leading reasons why chemotherapy fails in patients. Research published in the Journal of Controlled Release addresses that problem with a fundamentally new strategy: instead of simply increasing drug doses or switching drugs, researchers engineered nanoparticles that first disable the cancer cell’s drug-expulsion mechanism, and only then release the anticancer drug.
By combining this sequential drug delivery approach with photothermal therapy (using near-infrared laser light to heat and destroy the tumor), complete tumor elimination and 100% survival in a mouse model of drug-resistant cancer were achieved, with no detectable toxicity to normal tissues.
This remarkable drug delivery system was developed by an international research team led by Professor Eijiro Miyako at Tohoku University, who is also a Visiting Professor at Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, in collaboration with the group of Drs. Alberto Bianco and Cécilia Ménard-Moyon at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS)/University of Strasbourg.
How brain cells compete to shape our minds from development to aging
In a recently published review, researchers led by Prof. Wu Qingfeng at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences explored the ongoing process of neural cell competition (NCC), a fundamental mechanism that shapes the brain across the lifespan.
The review is published in National Science Review, and provides fresh insights into how brain cells continuously “compete” for survival and how this competition impacts brain development, wiring, function, and aging.
Although neural cell competition is widely recognized for its role during early brain development, Prof. Wu’s team demonstrated that this process continues to be vital throughout life. They revealed that NCC not only helps maintain healthy brain function but also contributes to age-related cognitive decline when disrupted.
The moon’s largest impact crater scattered something priceless—and Artemis may be heading straight into it
A new study, published in Science Advances, has refined some important details about the moon’s largest and oldest impact crater, which stretches more than 1,200 miles (2,000 km) on the far side of the moon. The new details can help guide some of the planning for NASA’s upcoming Artemis mission to the moon, which is planned for 2028.
The South Pole–Aitken (SPA) basin is the moon’s largest and oldest confirmed impact basin. The basin has a unique, tapered elliptical shape that has puzzled scientists and sparked some debate over the direction and nature of the impact that formed it. Some asymmetries in the crust suggest a northward trajectory of the impactor, while the shape and the structure of the basin suggest a southward trajectory.
The authors of the new study write, “Large basins on the moon and other solid bodies (e.g., Mars and Pluto) are ellipses that taper in the downrange direction. SPA’s tapering toward the south, a steeper crustal thickness gradient toward the north, and the presence of a thorium-and iron-rich deposit toward the southwest of SPA beyond the basin rim support a southward impact trajectory.”